Make sure your voice is heard and become eligible to win an iPod nano.
A reader casually asked why I began the MC TNT article earlier this month with a quotation from Hamlet. Obviously, word of COMMON Europe's upcoming conference in Stratford upon Avon, UK, the birthplace of Shakespeare, escaped him!
June 12-15 is when users from around Europe will gather to network, immerse themselves in educational courses, and do their part to help influence international standards. You may think, "The UK is too far to travel on my measly little staff development budget, so I'll never get there, so what does it have to do with me?" Well, it's the COMMON Europe survey that matters. This is the fifth year that COMMON Europe has conducted a worldwide survey of IBM i and Power Systems users in an effort to determine your needs and concerns. The good news? You don't have to be among those taking the survey during the opening session of the COMMON Europe conference; you can take it from your desktop.
Oh, so you have already taken the survey and submitted your name for the drawing to win one of seven iPods? Then stop reading. If you haven't, I'm going to try to persuade you to take advantage of this opportunity before it expires at 23:59 GMT on Saturday, June 12. There is no pride here in pandering for a vote by emphasizing that four iPod nanos will be sent to survey-takers from around the world, including North America, Europe, Australasia, Japan, and Africa. Three iPods will be reserved for attendees completing surveys on the spot, so it's never too late to register in person if you're nearby and have been riding the fence.
The conference has five parallel tracks, or "streams," covering Power Systems Management and Infrastructure; Application Development; AIX, Domino, and Networks; Technical Briefings; and a special stream for Business Partners and Academic Initiative.
If you like Trevor Perry of Angus Thinks!—and who doesn't get a kick out of listening to this man speak?—he'll be giving a presentation on "Satisfying Those Internal Customers," which happens to be the most important issue to IBM Power Systems users who took last year's survey. At least it was the most important issue to users in Europe and the Americas. In Australasia, obtaining high-quality vendor support was at the top of their list.
Among the great features of the COMMON Europe survey—apart from its being multi-lingual—is that it segments results by region from demographic questions asked. Interestingly, not all Power Systems users are alike. While data security was the number two most important item last year to respondents in Australasia, it was third for those responding from Europe but didn't even make the top three among those in the Americas.
I suppose when you hail from the birthplace of Facebook rather than Shakespeare, security ranks somewhere down the list just above your favorite flavor of ice cream. OK, that's a joke! It probably just reflects the fact that everyone in the Americas has spent so much effort securing their systems that they don't need to worry about it any longer and can think about other important issues, like keeping their skills current, which actually was third among the Americas' top three concerns last year (but didn't rank high elsewhere). My bet is that this concern possibly will emerge as being more significant this year as users continue to struggle with keeping and finding good jobs, which are scarce.
Before we list the questions that you will see on the survey, I will point out a couple that I think should be high on everyone's list, though they probably won't make most people's top three:. "Attract the younger generation to Power Systems (System i or AS/400)" and "Attract senior executives to Power Systems and System i." There are efforts underway by IBM to achieve both of these objectives (see my May 31 MC Systems Insight article on the IBM Academic Initiative), but until everyone agrees they are important, they may not get the emphasis they deserve. There is a difference between attracting someone to Power Systems and attracting them to System i or IBM i, and the survey could have been a bit clearer on this point. Nevertheless, the point is to get the attention of senior management about the benefits of IBM technology. The survey, by the way, may be taken by anyone, including users of AIX and Linux, and many of the IT questions are general in nature.
There are questions about the effect the economy is having on your existing IT budgets as well as on new projects. These results will be revealing when the survey data are compiled. There is also a place to write in your "golden concern" if you don't see it on the list. Last year, this space elicited user comments that they wanted "Better marketing of the IBM i," "IBM i survival," and "Modernized applications."
Preliminary results will be announced June 15 during the closing session, but you won't have to go searching for results; they will be emailed to all survey respondents who provide an email address when taking the survey.
Here is this year's list of "Top Concerns" questions. All you have to do is express how important they are to you on a scale from 1 to 10. (Note that there are other questions besides these.)
Top Concerns 2010
1. Reply with efficacy to ever growing storage needs
2. Easily exchange information with other companies / institutions
3. Attract the younger generation to Power systems (System i or AS/400)
4. Treat data security and confidentiality as a business risk
5. Do fast application development to fulfill business needs
6. Satisfy internal customers
7. Implement web-oriented architectures
8. Integrate document management and unstructured data with core apps
9. Attract senior executives to Power System and System i
10. Receive consistent high-quality service and support from vendors
11. Find applications that fulfill business needs
12. Correctly measure the value of IT to business
13. Improve data quality
14. Keep the skills current for existing staff
15. Ensure complete high availability
This is a last-minute reminder for all of you who haven't yet taken the survey. Remember that the deadline to have your vote count is Saturday, June 12.
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